So Please

Another day another night, waking up to the same old
fight. Best believe I'm begging on my hands and knees,
asking God, why please? What has this world done to me?
Can't you see? Why does everyone have to be so mean?

Cant we all just get along? Nope another person saying
he and she are always wrong. I'm doing my best, giving
all that I can, but it's time for you to take this in
your hands. This is not life I wanted to go as planned.

So please tell me what it is I'm supposed to believe in?
Living in a world of people screaming, kids are teasing,
always fleeting, another gun shot bleeding. They were
my ride and die, looks like a suicide. Help me to put my
mind at ease with these words, so please.

PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK OF POETRY

Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”